In an age when bloggers and social media users (including yours truly) are regularly calling out poor customer service in desperate attempts to right serious wrongs, I would like to take this opportunity to pay kudos to one company that likely secured my patronage for life.
Here’s to Well Fargo Home Mortgage.
It all began a little over a month ago. I was sorting through the mail when I came across a letter which appeared to be junk (it’s like pornography – you know it when you see it). But for some reason I ripped it open and took a look. The form letter was from our mortgage company (Wells Fargo) explaining that rates were at their lowest levels in years and they would like to give us the opportunity to re-finance.
We’ve heard THAT one before. Plenty of these types of pitches have come our way over the last few years from many different lenders — but we always determined that the closing costs, the rates and the hassles made the re-finance option undesirable. And we were fairly happy with our existing 30 year rate. But for another reason I can’t explain, I called the 1-800 number to see how low the rate was – and how much it would cost to refinance.
Redacted and Embellished Transcript of Call
Wells Fargo Lady: We can cut your 30 year rate by a full point and save you more than $550 per month. Me: Okay – what are the closing costs? Wells: There are no closing costs. Me: What about the appraisal, title search, added points, and stupid processing fees? Wells: None of that. Me: Do I need to join some sort of club where I get magazines I don’t want delivered to me for years? Wells: No. Me: Do I need to attend a short, seven hour presentation about a time share in the beautiful Poconos? Wells: No. Me: How about the frozen meat? Do have to buy large quantities of meat – and the freezer to go with it? Wells: No ma’am. Me: What’s the catch? Wells: No catch. If you qualify, we will send you closing docs which you can complete at home, have notarized and send back. We’ll pay for the UPS too.At this point, I believe I am on some type of sick reality show and they are taping my reaction. So I just agree and get off the phone quickly, expecting never to hear from them again.
A week later the home refinance kit arrives, we complete it, get it notarized and send it off. All is approved and the new payment kicks in next month. Wells Fargo just saved us a ton of money and we didn’t even ask them to!
Now I realize that we are excellent mortgagees and they want to keep us as customers – but frankly, we weren’t in the market to refinance because of what a colossal pain in the ass it usually is. I also realize that we are restarting the clock on the 30 years but we can pay down as much principal as we want, when we want. And lastly, I realize that this gushy post sounds as if Wells is paying me to write about my experience – but no. I am genuinely delighted with the company and wanted to tell MoB readers… so you all can call YOUR mortgage companies and ask for the same deal. Seriously, you should.
Banks and mortgage folks have gotten such a bad rap over the last several years– and much of it is deserved. But so is this complimentary post. Should anything go wrong with this mortgage (a.k.a. the frozen meat arrives), I will be sure to let you know. But I think wells Fargo got it just right.
